JB Bickerstaff salutes Pistons clutch heroics in stunning win over Knicks
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The Detroit Pistons’ resiliency continues with a thrilling 124-119 victory over the New York Knicks. Monday night’s Eastern Conference showdown went back and forth at Madison Square Garden all night. As both teams traded momentum swings, the Pistons maintained their composure late to finish with the win.
Detroit began the regular season struggling to end comeback efforts or close leads against their opponents. But now, those early-season issues look to be a thing of the past, as the Pistons are now turning these tight finishes into wins. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff elaborated to the media how his team earned the victory.
“I thought our guys did a heck of a job finding ways to score. They were getting buckets on their end, but we needed to find ways to match them. For us to end the game with Tim Hardaway (Jr.) making those selfless plays, that’s what we talked about,” Bickerstaff explained. “That’s the foundation, that’s who we are. He’s a good shooter. He had his opportunities to take those. Made the feeds to Malik (Beasley) twice and Malik helped close it out.”
New York made a late push to try and steal the lead back. Knicks’ forward Mikal Bridges cut the Pistons’ lead to one by hitting a triple with 1:26 left and trimming the score to 118-117. Detroit leaned on Beasley to hit back-to-back dagger triples to extend their lead to five.
Foul trouble couldn’t slow down Cade Cunningham in Pistons win
The Knicks competed with a crucial advantage by forcing early foul trouble to Pistons’ point guard Cade Cunningham. New York lured the star point guard into four first-half fouls, which limited his aggression on offense and defense. The Pistons managed to keep the game close with a 63-59 score at halftime.
Cunningham was limited to seven points in the first half but erupted for 29 points in the final two quarters. Detroit’s star guard did not register another foul for the rest of the game and led the charge the rest of the way for the Pistons. Bickerstaff credited the franchise leader in the postgame media conference on what it took to play through those circumstances.
“Think about how many guys are good enough to do that. There’s a handful of guys out there that have the ability to say ‘I’m going to do it’ then actually go out and get it done,” Bickerstaff said. “I think we’ve seen Cade make a step into the heir of the elites in this game. I’m hard-pressed to find someone who’s doing it better than he’s doing it right now. Impacting winning in a major way, making his teammates better.”
Cunningham led all scorers with 36 points for the night. His scoring came efficiently for the Pistons by going 14-27 from the field and 4-8 from 3-point range. Bickerstaff continued his admiration for Cunningham’s performance to the media.
“What I’m so impressed with is how he picks his spots and his times,” Bickerstaff stated. “We ended that second quarter kind of shaky, and he put us on his back to help us get settled and then allowed everybody else around him to do their thing.”
Six different Pistons scored in double figures to aid their victorious fight. Beasley scored 22 points off the bench on 7-13 shooting from the field and 6-8 shooting from 3. Forward Tobias Harris and Ausar Thompson scored eleven points each for Detroit. The other starters, Jalen Duren and Tim Hardaway Jr., tallied ten points each.
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